I'm not really much one for paranormal actually, but author Sarah MacLean raved about this series, so I decided to try it anyway. I didn't love it, but I didn't really hate it either. I think I'll go ahead and try the first full length novel and see how that goes. ( )

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4 stars

I was surprised by this book. It was good but I didn't feel like it lived up to the high expectations or ratings. The potential was there and I'm hoping that as the series goes on that it will get better.

The world-building was good, and it really sucked me in. So many things I want to know more of. However, the ending came up fast. So fast that I actually was shocked since it was at exactly 80%. I felt shorted because of how abrupt it was. There was a lot of stuff that still needed attention and or closure. The only thing I can think is that the author intends for them to be pivotal parts of the rest of the stories.

I sure hope so because there are a lot of books and I want to make sure I plan my budget accordingly before I break the bank. ( )

When I first started reading this book, I didn't think it was for me. The first chapter is set in the past and was quite slow. But from the first page of chapter two, I was hooked. I can't think of a single thing I didn't like about this book, and I intend to read the whole collection. The storyline itself is good, it kept me turning the pages. The main character myst, is funny, sassy and a bit of a bitch. She's not one of these characters that just lies down and follows her man like in most paranormal romance stories. ( )

super short. ( )

The Warlord Wants Forever
3.5 Stars

Synopsis
Once a ruthless warlord and now a general in the rebel vampire army, Nikolai Wroth is shocked to discover that his Bride, the one woman who can make his heart beat again, is the incredibly beautiful but completely merciless Myst the Coveted, a Valkyrie warrior who has devoted her life to destroying vampires. Fortunately or unfortunately, Nikolai stumbles across the means to control Myst but does he want her subjugation or her love?

Review
After reading and enjoying A Hunger Like No Other, I felt that something was missing regarding Nikolai and Myst's backstory. So, I went back and read The Warlord Wants Forever even though I am not a fan of novellas because they are too short and the character development is usually meh. All in all, this does not disappoint but reading Hunger... first probably enhanced my enjoyment.

Nikolai and Myst have an intense love/hate relationship that takes some getting used to but on the whole they each give as good as they get and ultimately deserve each other. Nikolai is too domineering for my taste, and some of his actions are cringe-worthy but his character does learn an important lesson. Myst is also an ambiguous character but once everything about her past is revealed, she becomes very sympathetic. One problem with her characterization is the incongruity between her ferocity and independence and her need to submit to another in order to find true love - this does not resonate well.

The dialogue and humor are perfect in their snarkiness, and the sex scenes are steamy with a capital S but never become gratuitous.

Even though this is a novella, it does not read as one and neither the plot nor the characterization are short changed. I do, however, recommend that it be read by those who have already begun the Immortals After Dark books as I would not consider it a good introduction to the series.
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Not sure. I have found the book, which is more like a novella or prequel absolutely uninteresting. There was nothing in the story line or characters or even the world built that captured me. Since the series has consistent reviews 4 and up, i will try again at a later time. As of Jan 2012 it was one of the most boring books i have read. ( )

4 Stars
After reading her 'The Game Maker' series and becoming completely enthralled with it, I wanted to check out her other series. This is the 1st book of her 'Immortals After Dark' series.
I liked it, but can't say I loved it.
It was very well written. I think it was the flow of this story that took it down a notch for me. However, it still wet my appetite for her books.
So yes, I am going for book 2 in this series while I eagerly await book 3 in the 'Game Maker' series.
I am also going to check the 1st book of her other Adult series.

( )

DNF at 56%. Warning: Review will contain small spoilers, but will not reveal anything apart from the introduction to the story.

„The Warlord Wants Forever“ is the very short first volume in the „Immortals After Dark“ series, and it sucks. I’ve heard a lot about this series before, and a lot of people I know rated this book three stars or more, but … honestly ... there was no single thing I could at least pretend to have enjoyed about the story. Maybe it will become staggeringly fantastic during the second half, but I highly doubt this possibility and will probably definitely not return to it.

So, the novel went something like this during the beginning:

Wroth (male protagonist): „Haha! Your’re my prisoner! I’m the one to decide which fate will be yours! But … uh … wait … you’re beautiful! Wow, you’re so beautiful! What are you?“
Myst (female protagonist): „Oh, honey, of course I’m beautiful. But I can’t tell you what I am. I’m no vampire, that’s all you have to know, darling.“
Wroth: „I couldn’t care less. You know, I didn’t sleep with any woman for hundreds of years. You’re turning me on.“
Myst: *undresses seductively* „Of course I’m turning you on. Because I’m destined to be your bride. There is no other woman you could ever sleep with apart from me.“
Wroth: *dribbles of desire* „Then sleep with me!“
Myst: „‘sorry, darling. You’ll never want to sleep with anyone else again, which might not be the most pleasant feeling of all feelings because you’re immortal, but ... I don’t want to sleep with you.“
Wroth: „Nooooo! You can’t do that to me!“
Myst: „Of course I can.“ *vanishes for five years*
Wroth (five years later): „I’ve finally found you, scheming b*tch! No you’ll do what I want you to do. I possess you.“
Myst: „No, honey, you don’t. Sorry to disappoint you. You look awesome, but I still don’t want … oh, wait, I think I do want to sleep with you after all!“
Wroth: „I knew you would. Now kneel in front of me.“
Myst: *kneels*
Wroth: „Come!“
Myst: *comes*

That’s where I stopped reading because I just couldn’t care less about two one-dimensional characters who have no problem with rapey behaviour and women degrading themselves because their men want them to. And apart from that, I wasn’t even able to recognize anything resembling world-building in this story. Kresley Cole simply threw vampires, valkyries and whatever-else-there-was into the story and created only small characteristics for each of them, for anything else would obviously have been too arduous. *rolling eyes*

Save me rolling my eyes permanently during this boring, boring story, I won’t remember much about it, but one thing I will remember is that I won’t recommend the series and that I will never, ever return to reading it.
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I'm not really much one for paranormal actually, but author Sarah MacLean raved about this series, so I decided to try it anyway. I didn't love it, but I didn't really hate it either. I think I'll go ahead and try the first full length novel and see how that goes. ( )

Overall, this is a pretty good introduction to the series, but honest communication would have solved most of Myst and Nikolai's problems. I found the world to be a bit confusing at times. It reads more like a medieval setting, but occasionally there's a modern element that throws the rhythm off. I'm hoping that it reads more smoothly in the subsequent books. ( )

Okay this is my 3rd book I have read by Kresley and oh dear lord did it plummet in all ways.
This book hangs on grey areas so close to an almost rapeish scene that I just could not. The amount of effort that was written into creating Nikolai into being such a controlling and demanding jackass was not what I was expecting. It’s one thing to be a strong forthcoming man, it’s another being a man who finds a way to have complete and utter control over someone with an object that they have no chance in hell to combat you. The whole chain of control thing was so bad.

The only thing that was good about this book, was when you got to finally see Myst’s memories and those were heartbreaking. And Murdoch telling Nikolai to get his head out of his ass and realize what he was doing was absolutely wrong. Thank god the book has one man with a sensible head (but I’m not holding my breath for the hopes that it continues in his own book)

Im ultimately angry that he still managed to get the girl in the end after the way he treated her, like she was written to just dust it all under the rug like it never happened.

With only having read 3 of her books so far this is my least liked one, and it’s only a freaking Novella. ( )

I don't even know how to rate this.

On the one hand, I liked part of it. I enjoyed them coming from two different worlds and trying to come together. Parts of were incredibly cute.

But I loathed most of it.

-Vampires in this world find their one true mate, and then only that one true mate can slake their lust for them. Leaving the Vampire in the story with a five year erection because the Valkyrie wanted to make him suffer
-Neither of these two fuckheads ever communicate with each other.
-The Vampire is old and has old school beliefs. Namely that the Valkyrie belongs to him now and she no longer needs her own life because he can protect her and care for her now. She doesn't agree with this.
-The Valkyrie is even older, and her kind absolutely hate Vampires. She constantly is tricking him because instead of talking with him about his stupid ass beliefs (see above), she wants to be sneaky about things and get away.
-There is basically a fucking selkie skin in this. The Valkyrie has a chain connected to her that she can't remove, and the Vampire somehow got ahold of. And it controls her. He can order her to do anything. So he does. Except he promises to never rape her. He will only touch her if she asks.
...And then immediately orders her to orgasm like 20 times in a row.
-Oh yeah. And he does rape her. The first time they had PIV sex (because there were.. a lot of sexual shit that went on before this), he takes her without asking and "can't stop". But it's okay because the Valkyrie has always been looking for the man strong enough to take her before

Myst had a primal need deep inside her: to be dominated by a powerful male. Yet she’d never been defeated in a contest of two—no male had ever been strong enough.
Wroth was more powerful than any before.
Her mind rebelled. He was a vampire! She’d killed the last three she’d blooded. Why not Wroth? He’d planned to torture her in that horrid dungeon, planned to control her with the chain.
But his bite . . . She moaned, her aching sex getting wetter and wetter. She needed his shaft to fill it.
Please be strong enough. Please . . . For once in her life, would a man take control?
So she could finally lose it.

-And compared to that this is minor: these two characters are idiots and make stupid decisions.

Honestly, this couple just.. doesn't work. They each go back and forth about even liking each other, despite the instant bond they have. The Valkyrie..frankly sucks. And the Vampire does too. But more than that he's an asshole that needs some serious work. And the ending where they get together just feels like it is out of absolutely nowhere, despite knowing that we were working up to this before.

The world is interesting but we see basically none of it because the Vampire has the Valkyrie locked up in his castle most of the book. The story is barely there, and when it does come out it is illogical at best.

Only reason I'm giving this series another chance is because I really, really want a goddamn PNR series to read, and finding a good, not problematic PNR series is a fucking nightmare. And this book was, as far as I can find out without reading more, halfway to being a prequel novella.

Honestly, I had more to say while I was reading this, but my thoughts about this are about as coherent as the book itself, and I don't want to decode it anymore.

This was great! Nice to know where it all started...lol ( )

Bodice ripper type, with Myst fighting Nikolai, even as she wanted him to be stronger than her. She has a weakness and his taking away her free will is doomed to backfire on him. Love the Valkeries.
( )

Well, to be honest I read this novella a while ago when it was recommended To me by a friend, and I was less impressed. But, upon reread, I liked it well enough. It was a little beyond my ideal graphic sex threshold, but at the same time, she builds a great world, and I see a lot of potential in the series.

I've heard loads of people bitching about Myst "wanting tone dominated". Bah! Whatever. So what if she did? Does that offend your feminist sensibilities? Because, it it were a man who wanted to be "dominated", I bet you'd be fine with it. There's a whole subculture out there who digs that. It's not my thing, but hey, to each their own, right? Still, I don't thing that what's going on here. I think Myst is simply so badass she's just psyched at the idea that there's a man out there that she can't defeat. That is a turn on to her. I can't blame her. If I was the kicking ass type, I imagine I would be less attracted to a man whose butt I just kicked. Why are we missing the complete badassness of Myst, just because of how she reacts to Nikolai? In the end she saves his ass... ( )

I read this for the Terrifying Women square for Halloween Bingo

Into the blood-splattered snow, the lone warrior fell to one knee and shuddered with weakness. Still, an arm shot out to raise a sword against the oncoming legion. Her dented breastplate swallowed her small form. Though the winds howled, whipping her hair, she heard the twang of the bowstring unleashed. She screamed in fury when the arrow punctured the center of her armor, the blow sending her flying back.
The arrowhead had pierced through metal, then barely through her breastbone, just enough that her heart met the point with each beat. The beating of her own brave heart was killing her. But her scream had woken two nearby gods sleeping together through a brutal, wintry decade.
They stirred and looked down upon the maiden, seeing in her eyes courage burning bright. Bravery and will had marked her entire life, but the light ebbed with death and they mourned it.
Freya, the female god, whispered that they should take her courage and preserve it for eternity because it was so precious.

The first in the Immortals After Dark series, we get the origins of the Valkyrie and an introduction to the lore. This was also a hot little number with Myst and Wroth rubbing all up on each other.
It's an introduction novella, so the shorter word count leaves some to be desired with flushed out world but I loved our leads. Myst was kickass and Wroth, for all his confusion, was commanding but tolerant beast.
The conflict comes from Myst's trust issues with men and Wroth not knowing how to navigate it and some hints as to the series future enemies may be.
I enjoyed the hotness and excitement of it all. ( )

The Warlord Wants Forever
3.5 Stars

Synopsis
Once a ruthless warlord and now a general in the rebel vampire army, Nikolai Wroth is shocked to discover that his Bride, the one woman who can make his heart beat again, is the incredibly beautiful but completely merciless Myst the Coveted, a Valkyrie warrior who has devoted her life to destroying vampires. Fortunately or unfortunately, Nikolai stumbles across the means to control Myst but does he want her subjugation or her love?

Review
After reading and enjoying A Hunger Like No Other, I felt that something was missing regarding Nikolai and Myst's backstory. So, I went back and read The Warlord Wants Forever even though I am not a fan of novellas because they are too short and the character development is usually meh. All in all, this does not disappoint but reading Hunger... first probably enhanced my enjoyment.

Nikolai and Myst have an intense love/hate relationship that takes some getting used to but on the whole they each give as good as they get and ultimately deserve each other. Nikolai is too domineering for my taste, and some of his actions are cringe-worthy but his character does learn an important lesson. Myst is also an ambiguous character but once everything about her past is revealed, she becomes very sympathetic. One problem with her characterization is the incongruity between her ferocity and independence and her need to submit to another in order to find true love - this does not resonate well.

The dialogue and humor are perfect in their snarkiness, and the sex scenes are steamy with a capital S but never become gratuitous.

Even though this is a novella, it does not read as one and neither the plot nor the characterization are short changed. I do, however, recommend that it be read by those who have already begun the Immortals After Dark books as I would not consider it a good introduction to the series.
( )

Ack. When will I learn? I just don't like Cole's stuff. ( )

Mindless, paranormal more-smut-than-romance. Perfect junk food! Are some parts of it terrible? Yes! But that didn't stop me from licking the cheese dust off my fingers. Don't take this seriously, don't hold this up to high standards (or any standards), and you'll be fine. I mean, just read the book description. It's enough to make you go "lol is this for real?" I expected mediocre fanfiction level kind of writing, and was therefore pleased with what I got. On to the next one!

----

Summary:

Wroth: *is virile*
Myst: *is defiant and voluptuous*
Wroth: Give me the information I seek!
Myst: No! *undresses*
They cuddle.
Wroth: I will torture you!
Myst: *gives him a boner. Heavy petting, she gets hers, then leaves him for five years with a perpetual hard on*.
They meet again.
Wroth: You are my Bride!! *sniffs her neck and jizzes in his pants*
Myst: No! *flee*
He breaks her magical golden belt.
Wroth: Come!
Myst: *writhes like being touched with an invisible Hitachi*
He spirits her away to his secret vampire lair and they have lots of sexy time.
Myst: Set me free!
Wroth: I will! And yet... *is haunted by visions of her slutty past*
Meanwhile she escapes and returns home. He chases after her.
Wroth: I was going to give you your freedom all this while! I love you!
Myst: I have tried to fight it but I love you too!
Wroth: Please tell your sisters to stop stabbing me!
Myst: Eh. We'll work something out.

END ( )

Assolutamente squisito. La fregatura è che è corto, troppo corto!
Però è adorabile.
Myst e Nikolai... Una coppia che elettrizza. ( )

A few months ago a friend of mine managed to convince me to try this series. I've heard a lot about these books before, but I wasn't very convinced to read it. Not because the subject didn't appeal to me, but because it was another series. Since most of the books I've read this year are part of a series I was seriously trying to stay away. As you can imagine, the curiosity won and here I am, hooked on another very good series.

The Warlord Wants Forever is a novella that was first published in the Playing Easy to Get anthology and is the first story in the Immortals After Dark series. It tells the story of Nikolai Wroth, the eldest of the Wroth brothers, and Myst the Coveted, a Valkyrie. Now, while the vampire hero was enough to finally convince me to read the book, it was the valkyrie that made me curious. I've never read another book with that particular creature, so I was very intrigued.

Nikolai Wroth is such a powerful character and I don't say that because he's a vampire. First of all, his name, Nikolai, is one of my favorite names for some reason. I don't think I've ever met a hero named Nikolai that I didn't like. He's also very devoted to his brothers and sisters and he loved them so much, that he preferred facing their hatred and their wrath than letting them die, when he had the power to save them. That might sound selfish to some, but not to me. He's also very devoted to the cause he's fighting for. He swore he would never drink blood from another human being and he didn't. On top of that, he's such an honest guy. I mean, he had the power to make Myst do whatever he wanted her to do, and yet he never used that power to hurt her. For a guy that has been left without his mate for five years, I think that says a lot about his character.

Myst is the most beautiful Valkyrie. She's also the seductress, the one who distracts the enemy, while her sisters attack and destroy him. I think it was a surprise for her the fact that she liked Nikolai enough to spare his life. And I also think a small part of her wanted him to find her, to capture her. The fact that he manages to take hold of the jewel commanding her makes her realize they are destined to be together.

I do believe this novella is a good start for the series. And the fact that the series is full of new creatures is so refreshing. Or at least they're new to me. This novella also introduces some of the major characters in this series. It also leaves some subplots unsolved, like what happened to Nikolai's brothers and where are they.

The next installment in this series, Lothaire, is due January 2012. It's so far away, but I know it will be worth it. ( )

Paranormal Romance featuring a vampire and a Valkyrie. I tried this on the strength of the author's Game Maker series; but I was a bit underwhelmed. Of course, all romance novels are built on a set of pre-determined standards but the characters and settings are so hyper-caricaturized in this novel, it's nearly comical. Perhaps if I had read this series before the author's BDSM series; or if I hadn't inadvertently read yet another Valkyrie-based Paranormal Romance the week before, I might have been more open or more favorably inclined to this. ( )

LOVE THIS SERIES!

I was hooked immediately, and proceeded to devour all the books one after the other! ( )

This is an interesting new take on paranormal beings. I've heard it only gets better so I am excited. The differences between these vampires and others I've read about are very intriguing. I love the thought of them having one "soul mate" so to speak that they must try to find. I've never read a book with Valkyries before so that was a change too. ( )